This type of scale is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,304,773. Further examples of publications disclosing this type of load cell are U.S. Pat. No. 4,065,962 and Published German patent applications Nos. 27 40 668 and 27 41 303. In the apparatus disclosed in the two last-mentioned publications, relatively much height is required for the construction of the measuring unit. The disadvantage of the system of the first-named patent is that the arrangement of the strain gauge resistors is such that the mounting of the resistors and the servicing thereof is difficult. Further, it is not always desirable to use the measuring unit with the strain gauge resistors as such as parallel support linkages for the load receiving structure.